Been told today that instead of having a budget of £17,500 I have to pick for my next car from a list either a:

Audi A4

BMW 3 Series

Jaguar X Type

Merc C Class

All in bog standard Diesel Estate trim, my company are trying to raise the percieved image of the company. I think the boss has read our latest trade mag which had an article on a competitor buying 10 BMW 3 Series for their sales staff.

Thing is i'm going to have to pay loads more tax for a lesser car :thumbdwn: They might have changed their mind by the time my car needs changing hopefully.

i feel so sorry for you poor B'stard.:thumbdwn:

I think you should be grateful.:confused: :eek:

I thought a common 3-Series would lower the image of a company?

Engineering companies disapprove of 'flash' motors as it gives the impression that they make/waste too much money!

You must work in sales or finance

I thought a common 3-Series would lower the image of a company?

Engineering companies disapprove of 'flash' motors as it gives the impression that they make/waste too much money!

You must work in sales or finance

My business card says Sales Engineer I work for a telecoms company.

One of my colleagues (a proper engineer) is buying a new Boxster, he's getting a bit of grief for it My Octavia seems to go down well though:thumbup:

i feel so sorry for you poor B'stard.:thumbdwn:

I think you should be grateful.:confused: :eek:

This is a key quote from my post

"Thing is i'm going to have to pay loads more tax for a lesser car "

I'm very happy with my

i'll miss the Climate, reverse sensors, auto changer, auto wipers and the many other bits and pieces that my car has that a

One of my colleagues (a proper engineer) is buying a new Boxster, he's getting a bit of grief for it My Octavia seems to go down well though:thumbup:

I've been at the same company nearly eleven years installing and maintaining telphone systems and this was the only way up moving into sales and project management, tbh I like to install most of my sales as I know it'll be done right! My uncle owns his own telecoms company and bought a Boxster S just before christmas, drives a van during the week

I'm only stirring! Fair do's!

At least you have a reasonable choice in cars. My employer uses Peugeot and Vauxhall. The BEST car which is for senior managers is..... Wait for it...... A Vauxhall Vectra. Everyone else get 206's or Zafiras depending on grade. Its quiet common for staff to opt out and take the cash to get a car of their choice.

What about a group buy on stickers, for use on company cars, i.e. "My other car's a Skoda", so as to maintain your integrity?

The problem is that you could perhaps negotiate to get a Skodie, but would presumably then be seen as a poor relation by the other 4 makes' owners. :holmes: The trick would be to get Skodie onto the list methinks. Is there a sales outlet/service close by? Have you left enough glossy brochures lying around? Investigated group buy discounts? etc etc.

OTOH as said, I guess you could do worse than those on offer :moped:

Mo

Glad we have the option for a car allowance. The Furb is much better suited to what SWMBO & I needed, and I have been able to do a bit of tweaking

A lot of VW Golfs/Passats on company hire scheme but they're getting too expensive so it's likely to get canned. Also BMW 1-series. Used to be five of those, now only 2 left due to breaking down - I was surprised to hear that personally as although aircon is a chargeable extra :eek: the build quality seemed good at first & quick glance.

Can you opt out of a company car and take an allowance instead?

The X-Type is a nice refined motor in 2.0D guise, plenty of pull as well... If that was my list of options I'd go for that (but then again that was my last car... I loved it so a slightly biased view)

I can have pretty much what I want up to around 18k, anything above that and I pay the difference, not bad for a service engineer methinks.

On my old company it was an Astra, an Astra or.............an Astra!!!

Out of the choice you have, the nearest to an Octavia is the A4 and I would go for that one.

With regards to brand image, people these days are more savvy about things like that, you only need to look at the popularity of Skoda to see it.

People don't look at a bargain basement beemer with tiny little wheels and think "ooooh a flash BMW", they think along the lines of "christ, he's desperate for a BMW badge on his bonnet".

Sorry if that offends certain types but that's how it is these days.

I can't opt out as the boss wants a fleet of premium cars outside and I think he knows if I did opt out it would be an ex demo Octy L&K or similar I would go for.

ATM the cars consist of My Skoda, a Laguna, Pug 307 SW, Rover MG ZT and Nissan X Trail.

I think I should point out that I am grateful for what I have and do know it could be much worse I drove a base spec diesel astravan for four years and built some muscles winding those windows up and down.

Can you opt out of a company car and take an allowance instead?

They might object if he turned up at a potential client's in a 1985 Sierra estate.

They might object if he turned up at a potential client's in a 1985 Sierra estate.

It would be a 4x4 Ghia though :P

Engineering companies disapprove of 'flash' motors as it gives the impression that they make/waste too much money!

Our engineering company has the following company cars:

Audi RS4

Audi A4 with S-Line pack (big wheels, sports trim etc.)

Audi S3

Accord Type S

Audi TT

Toyote hilux

Basically, if you can afford the tax you can have it.

Dave,

As a company owner, I know how important it is to keep the staff happy! Hence I let them have any car they want, within reason!! Its a small price to pay.

I have learn't that when they have a car they desire, they look after it more and dont abuse them - and dont ask me for such a large pay rise!!

Also, when I see a rep in a BMW or Merc, I suddenly take a dislike for some reason! Does that make me a car racist??!!!

Give me his number, i'll convince him/her otherwise!!

Don't think I'd be complaining at that list myself, but can understand the annoyance at having the choice taken away.

Based on choice of those , would most likely go for the A4 , seen in trade press that they are doing free upgrades from lower to higher spec , so you may find yourself lucky if you research options first .

Our engineering company has the following company cars:

Audi RS4

Audi A4 with S-Line pack (big wheels' date=' sports trim etc.)

Audi S3

Accord Type S

Audi TT

Toyote hilux

Basically, if you can afford the tax you can have it.[/quote']

An Audi is seen as discerning/acceptable, a Merc or BMW a bit ostentatious.

A Hilux is ok so long as it's 15 years old and battered

I would go for the A4 too, better specced, cheaper, not the image of the BMW, more reliable than the Merc. There's only really the Jag that competes but that's a really old design now, plus everyone knows it's just a mondeo underneath.

Our engineering company has the following company cars:

Audi RS4

----

Basically' date=' if you can afford the tax you can have it.[/quote']

I just can't see how it's economically viable to have a top end company car any more? I was going to treat myself last year to a company car - this is how it works out in terms of tax:

Car + Options = 56k

Benefit in kind = 35% of vehicle value per year = £19,500

Total tax payable @40% = £8,000 per year! (excluding any personal fuel allowance)

That's a shade under £700 per month in TAX just to have the car, before i even started paying for the thing OR insuring it OR modifying it So that idea went out the window! I know it's not an option for you Dave but for anyone else it seems so much better (unless you have access to someone else's company car ) to simply save up and buy a car (which is what im trying to do) rather than get one through work and line Gordon Brown's pockets.

If you wander how much tax you have to pay on a company car have a look here: http://www.comcar.co.uk/dir1in.cfm

...and £ 1446 is the 'maximum' that you can pay per month in tax (if personal mileage is excluded) according to that site.